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Le Sueur Man Rehabs After Stem Cell Surgery |
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Sunday, 26 November 2006 |
Source: The Free Press
By Tim Krohn
'A lot going on' in his body
Brent Doebbeling aches. His muscles and body spasm uncontrollably. He hurts.
Which is all good news.
Doebbeling, the 27-year-old Le Sueur resident who had stem cell spinal surgery in Portugal this fall, is living in Rockford, Mich., with his girlfriend, Amy Bigaouette, where he is undergoing intensive physical therapy.
Doebbeling, who broke his neck diving in a pool six years ago, is paralyzed from the neck down. He underwent a surgery, which isn’t yet available in America, in which doctors took stem cells from deep inside his nose and implanted them along the damaged area of his spine. The hope is the cells create new nerve cells and blood vessels that restore some of the electrical signals from the brain to the muscles.
He was the first Minnesotan to get the surgery.
“I haven’t noticed any major muscles coming back or anything,” said Doebbeling, who began therapy two months ago. “But I can tell there’s a lot going on in my body. The muscles and the spasms.
“There’s stuff going on. I don’t know what it is, but something’s going on, which is good.”
The couple, who have their house in Le Sueur for sale, moved to Michigan because it has a rehab center that specializes in therapy for those who’ve undergone the cell surgery in other countries.
Bigaouette said they had planned to rent an apartment or house for the two years they hope to be there, but could find no wheelchair-accessible rentals. They bought an accessible home about four miles from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan’s Center for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery.
“Brent is doing good. He really likes the therapy and you can tell things are changing in his body,” Bigaouette said.
The couple isn’t expecting miracles. While some quadriplegics who’ve had the surgery have regained use of their arms or legs and are even walking with a walker, Doebbeling said he would be thrilled to just gain some use of an arm to increase his independence.
“We’ve been talking to a lot of people who’ve had the surgery and they say if you see a difference, you’ll start noticing it from three months to a year after the surgery,” Bigaouette said.
Doebbeling said his therapy is varied and he is assisted by one to four people who lift him and help push his body through routines.
His wrists are strapped to a weight-lifting machine and the therapists assist him in pulling the weights to strengthen his wrist and arm muscles. He spends time in the pool where the buoyancy makes it easier for therapists to move and strengthen his limbs. He’s laid on his back and his feet and hands are attached to a bicycle-like machine that rotates his arms and legs.
“The machine is set so my legs and arms are moving at different speeds. It’s designed to upset your normal nervous system to stimulate it,” Doebbeling said.
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